Halifax Forex Review - Is it scam or safe?

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Halifax Investment Services Pty Ltd is in liquidation and no longer accepts clients.

Trading Accounts

Account Type

Minimum Deposit

Maximum Leverage

Spread

Standard

$0

1:100

Average 1 pip

Halifax is an Australian broker which offers a variety of trading instruments, on different trading platforms. One of the very unusual aspects of this otherwise reputable broker is the lack of clear trading conditions mentioned on the company's website.

The Company. Security of Funds

Company

Country

Regulation

Halifax Investment Services Ltd.

Australia

ASIC

Halifax New Zealand Limited

New Zealand

FMA

Halifax America LLC

United States

FINRA/SEC/NFA

The Halifax brand has multiple companies behind it, who are all under serious regulation. The primary company Halifax Investment Services Ltd. is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), while there are also New Zealand and US-based companies, which fall under regulation by the respective entities. You can be totally certain, your investment with Halifax would be safe, when it comes to counterparty risk.

This can not be said for some forex brokers, especially most who are registered off-shore. Financial regulators around the world vary in terms of strictness, but the ones who oversee Halifax are some of the toughest. For Instance ASIC requires the implementation of segregated accounts - a broker must keep its clients' funds in a specified account, which it doesn't have free access to. In essence, this prevents the company from spending traders' money for its owн expenses. Furthermore, there is a minimum capital requirement of AUD 1 million for opening a new brokerage. This guarantees a new company has a long-term view, can withstand temporary financial shocks and most importantly, most scammers can't afford this kind of investment.

In order to accept US clients, Halifax has opened Halifax America LLC, which is under the supervision of FINRA, SEC and NFA. Keep in mind, in the US retail FX traders can only utilize a maximum leverage ratio of 1:50 and holding a long and a short position in the same instrument, at the same time is forbidden (i.e. the FIFO rule applies). Be sure to know which company exactly you would be dealing with, if you decide to open a account with Halifax.

Halifax offers two versions of the popular forex and CFD trading platform MetaTrader and is an introducing broker (IB) to Interactive Brokers, allowing access to a variety of exchange-traded instruments (stocks, futures, options and so on).

Trading Conditions

Minimum Initial Deposit

There are no restrictions on your account size, if you choose to open a MetaTrader account at Halifax. This practice is becoming more popular over recent years, with brokers (such as IG) removing the entry barrier, in pursuit of new clients. Keep in mind, the minimum deposit shouldn't be a key factor, when comparing forex brokers. This may be important for beginners, who are willing to risk less, when learning to trade.

We are not certain about the minimum initial deposit for an account with Interactive Brokers, via Halifax. Interactive Brokers requires $10,000 by default, but other IBs and partners have negotiated lower levels.

Average spreads & Commissions

Halifax offers floating spreads. While the company does not clearly mention them on its website, our testing revealed the EUR/USD spread hovering around 1 pip in the early European trading session. This is pretty competitive with the current offers by other brokers. If you are not familiar with them, you can easily view the real-time spread comparison, which we have set-up here.

These are the trading costs when it comes to the broker's forex offering. On the other hand, we are not aware of the exact conditions on the exchange-traded securities, as offered with the Interactive Brokers partnership.

Leverage

Halifax offers a 1:100 maximum leverage for currency trading. This level is more than suitable for all trading strategies, which involve some form of risk management. On the other hand FX brokers nowadays offer even higher leverage ratios, like 1:500.

Keep in mind, trading with higher leverage does generate more risk for your investment. If you fully utilize a 1:100 ratio (i.e. trade with a notional value exceeding your account size one hundred times) a mere 1% market move against you, would cause you to loose your entire account. Do take caution when trading leveraged products.

Trading Platforms

Halifax offers multiple trading platforms, which include two versions of MetaTrader (4 and 5). as well as Trader Work Station (TWS). If you are primarily a forex trader, your choice of platform should be obvious. MetaTrader4 has proven itself over the years, gaining the trust of many forex traders. Its advanced charting capabilities, combined with the ease of use make it an ideal choice for new traders. On the other hand, more experienced traders enjoy the availability of custom indicators and automated trading systems (or Expert Advisors)

While you may be a fan of MT4, trying the newer fifth edition of the platform is something we would advise you to do. Sooner or later the support of the older version will be discontinued and brokers who still use it will migrate to MT5. The two versions of the popular software are fairly similar, with the biggest disadvantage of MT5 being, the fact it can not currently read all of the indicators and forex robots, which are created for MT4. In time, they will also have to update their code.

If you would like to trade exchange-traded instruments, such as stocks, ETFs, futures and options (real options, not the binary type) TWS is a solid platform. It has impressive charting capabilities, lots of order types, and its own automated trading environment. It is one of the preferred options for investors, who look to buy stocks with a 100% cash position (no margin involved) and create a long-term diversified portfolio. It also has a pretty respectable mobile version.

Methods of Payment

Halifax only offers traditional payment methods, like Banl Transfer, Credit/Debit Card and even Cheques (which seems a bit archaic nowadays). Some traders (as well as non-traders) prefer using instant e-wallets, such as Neteller for making online transactions.

Conclusion

Halifax is an Australian brokerage, providing multiple trading solutions. The company is highly regulated, by several of the world's top watchdogs. The company has a partnership with Interactive Brokers, allowing its clients to trade on the most popular and liquid exchanges around the world. That being the case, we are fairly surprised by the lack of information regarding the trading conditions. Payment options are rather limited. Here are this broker's pros and cons:

FXTM a regulated forex broker (regulated by CySEC, FCA and IFSC), offering ECN trading on MT4 an MT5 platforms. Traders can start trading with as little as $5 and take advantage of tight fixed and variable spreads, flexible leverage and swap-free accounts.

easyMarkets is a CySEC and ASIC regulated broker offering access to over 300 trading instruments, tight fixed spreads, no slippage and a 50% deposit bonus.

HYCM is global forex broker with more than 40 years of operational experience, regulated by FCA in the UK. Trade Forex with spreads as low as 0.2 pip

XM is broker with great bonuses and promotions. Currently we are loving its $30 no deposit bonus and deposit bonus up to $5000. Add to this the fact that it’s EU-regulated and there’s nothing more you can ask for.

FXCM is one of the biggest forex brokers in the world, licensed and regulated on four continents. FXCM wins our admirations with its over 200,000 active live accounts and daily trading volumes of over $10 billion.

FxPro is a broker we are particularly keen on: it’s regulated in the UK, offers Metatrader 4 (MT4) and cTrader – where the spreads start at 0 pips, Level II Pricing and Full Market Depth. And the best part? With FxPro you get negative balance protection.

FBS is a broker with cool marketing and promotions. It runs an ongoing monthly $999 forex contest, offers a $5 no-deposit bonus for anyone willing to try out its services, and an FBS MasterCard is also available for faster deposits and withdrawals.

FxChoice is a IFSC regulated forex broker, serving clients from all over the world. It offers premium trading conditions, including high leverage, low spreads and no hedging, scalping and FIFO restrictions.

HotForex is a EU Regulated broker, offering wide variety of trading accounts, including Auto, Social and Zero spread accounts. The minimum intial deposit for a Micro account is only $50 and is combined with 1000:1 leverage - one of the highest in the industry.

Deposit/Withdraw

Customer service

Summary

Well - now that Halifax is in Liquidation - even the Investors funds are at risk (even though they were regulated) - and even though funds were deposited into trust accounts. Also appears they were NOT acting as an ECN broker but running an A and B book........trading is hard enough without these types of thieves!!!

Halifax are very misleading in they way they pitch 'their credibility'. On another website, Halifax claim that they are Australian Securities Exchange (ASX 24) Participant. This is totally misleading and wrong.

Also, they should be more transparent when discussing their FOREX trading models.

As a market-marker, Halifax profits on the losses of FX retail client losses and betting against your FX positions.

Forex trading carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Before you engage in trading foreign exchange, please make yourself acquainted with its specifics and all the risks associated with it.
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